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Ingame References
Overview Much like Easter Eggs, the "City of" franchise is filled with slang and references to outside material. Some times these take the name of a zone, or an issue update. Other times a contact will be a wink towards one of the Developers favorite shows or games. While these may seem similar to Easter Eggs, they're usually not hidden, just requiring knowledge of the outside material. Issues Badges * The exploration badge, Around the Bendis Badge, is likely named after Brian Michael Bendis, a comic book writer best known for the cop/superhero series,Powers and work on various Marvel titles. * The exploration badge, Doc Whedon Badge, is likely a reference to Joss Whedon, a writer best known for the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer televison series. Whedon has also been a comic book writer, working most recently on Astonishing X-Men for Marvel comics. The "Doc" portion is reference to Doc, a another character in Whedon's Buffy series. * The Achievement badge Malleus Badge seems to refer to the Malleus Maleficarum. * The Exploration Ace Badge mentions that the hero is named Mustang. The text has been changed at some point and I remember that same hero being called Corsair. Both names come from American fighters which saw considerable action during WWII in the Pacific teather: Mustang and Corsair. Story Arcs The Clockwork Captive In The Clockwork Captive story arc, during the Rescue the kidnapping victim before the Clockwork can move him mission, a note can be found with 'CVX-1701 junction RVB-0070' written on it. The registry number for the starship Enterprise from the Star Trek TV and movies series is NCC-1701. Zones and Places *'Perez Park', and it's various neighborhoods and badges, are named after various famous comic book creators. ** Perez Park is named after George Pérez, a comic book illustrator and writer **'Gaiman Woods' is named after Neil Gaiman, best known in comics for his unique update of The Sandman. **'Everett Lake' is named after Bill Everett, a comic book artist and writer most famous for creating the superhero,The Sub-Mariner. *'Skyway City' **'The Gruff' neighborhood is most likely named after Three Billy Goats Gruff. This is a fairy tale where a Troll tries to prevent three goats from crossing a bridge. This area is a hangout for Trolls. **'The Land of the Lost' neighborhood shares a name with a television series, (Land of the Lost). The Lost enemy group can be found in this area. *'Talos Island' names come from Greek mythology, and particularly from Homer's Odyssey: **'Talos' is refered to the giant automaton of the same name. **'Argo Highway' seems to be related to Jason's ship Argo. **'Circe Island' can be related to the goddess Circe, who used to live in an island as well. **'Eleusis' seems to refer to the city of the same name. **'Helen Point' may be related to Helen of Troy. **'Ithaca Island' is named after the island of the same name, homeland of Odysseus. **'New Corinth', New Sparta, New Thebes, and New Troy are named after the cities of the same names: Corinth, Sparta, Thebes and Troy. **'Scylla Island' seems to be named after the monster of the same name. *'Dark Astoria' neighborhoods (at least some of them) seem to be named after directors of horror films: **'Raimi Arcade' is named after Sam Raimi **'Romero Heights' is named after George A. Romero *'Terra Volta' neighborhoods seem to refer to 1930's pulp comic characters: ** Carter Engineering refers to John Carter. ** Challenger Technology may refer to Professor Challenger from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. ** Gordon Trench refers to Flash Gordon. ** Walker Energy refers to Christopher "Kit" Walker, secret identity of The Phantom. ** Rogers Industries refers to Buck Rogers. ** Savage Waste Disposal refers to Doc Savage. ** The very name of Terra Volta (The land of Volta) can be related to Alessandro Volta, developer of the electric battery. *'Croatoa' seems to be based on the legend of the lost colony of Roanoke. **'Salamanca' is by no means a fictional place. This spanish city has one of the oldest universities in Europe. *'Brickstown' Some of the names seem to be related to the legend of Gilgamesh. **'Dark Waters' seem to be referred to one of the parts of Gilgamesh' travel. Water is very important in the Gilgamesh myth, and the tunnels under Brickstown are full with water here as well. **'Mashu Bridge' is related to the Mashu tunnel. **'Ziggurat' is an old babylonian construct. *'Founders' Falls' neighborhoods seem to be related to Rhode Island: **'Blackstone Hills' could refer to the Blackstone River Valley **'The Gaspee' seems to be related to the HMS Gaspée. **'Hutchinson Park' could be named after Ann Hutchinson **'Williams Square' seems to be named after Roger Williams. *'Peregrine Island' *Some of the neighborhoods seem to be related to the DC hero Aquaman: **'Curry Cove' seems to be named after Arthur Curry, the civilian identity of the hero. **'Mera Heights' seems to be named after Aquaman's ex-wife, Mera. **'Nelson Borough' can be related to the DC hero Dr. Fate. *'Rikti Crash Site' neighborhoods are named after battles where the American Army has been present: **'Bloody Lane' comes from Antietam during the American Civil War. **'The Bulge' (battle of), also called the Ardennes Offensive was the last offensive from the Nazi army during WWII. **'The DMZ' comes from the DeMilitarized Zone, from the Vietnam War. **'Little Round Top' was the place of one of the actions during the battle of Gettysburg, in the American Civil War. **'Point Du Hoc' action was part of the Normandy Landing during WWII. **'Pork Chop Hill' is related to the battle of the same name which took place during the Korean War. **'Sunken Road' seems to be referred to the Antietam Battle as well. *'Nerva Archipelago' **The very zone is named after the Roman Emperor Nerva. According to an NPC in City of Villains, "Nerva was a Roman Emperor who selected his heir rather than choosing a blood relative". **'Agincourt', the Longbow massive base, seems to be named after the battle of the same name. Notice the role of the English longbow during the battle. *'Mercy Island' **'Darwin's Landing' is named after Charles Darwin, whose theory of natural selection is often summarized as "survival of the fittest" - very fitting to the way Lord Recluse treats Mercy Island as a test to remove those too weak to live up to their destiny. NPCs *'Agent McClane' and Operative Gruber, the contacts of the Winter event 2005 seem to be based on the characters of the same name from the film Die Hard. *'Aleister Crowley', also mentioned in many of the Magic enhacements, was a real life person as well: Alistair Crowley. *'Dr. Aeon': The latin word Aeon, also spelled eon or æon, means "age," "forever," or "for eternity". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeon *'Clive Loveking' is a parody of H. P. Lovecraft, and refers to several of his works when you meet him in a police band mission. *'Ganymede' is from Greek Mythology, the most beautiful of mortals. *'General Hammond' in Firebase Zulu seems to be named after the character of the same name of Stargate *'Gordon Stacy' is a police captain you can find in Brickstown as a contact. His named seems to be composed of two famous police characters in comics: the first would be Comissioner Gordon, from Batman, and the second would be Captain Stacy, father of Gwen Stacy, first girlfriend of Spiderman. *'Hard Luck', the Golden Giza enforcer, seems to have a well-hidden reference here: during one of his missions you will be asked to save his brother, whose surname is "Luciano". Hard luck himself is know for his bad luck, making him an Unlucky man. And he's involved with the Family deals. This makes him a gangster who could be called "Unlucky" Luciano. "Unlucky" Luciano --> "Lucky" Luciano *'Nectanebo', often mentioned in the Magic origin enhacements, was a real life pharaoh of Egypt: Nectanebo I. *'Pirates': The Rogue Isles are mentioned as a nest of thieves and pirates at one time. Many of the pirates mentioned in missions and badges were, in fact, real: **'Mary Read' and Anne Bonney were both lieutenants of "Calico" Jack Rackham. **'William Kidd' **'Jean David Nau, "L'Ollonais" **'Blackbeard' is an special case, as he seems to have a more direct participation in the events of the Rogue Isles. Notice that: A) his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge is mentioned in the official info as the ship which attacked Port Hades. and B) The flag that you can find during the heist on the Blackbeard's Tavern is (was) his real life flag. *'Protean', the villain who killed Manticore's parents, takes his name from the god Proteus *'Rasputin, the monk, is mentioned by the Paragon Times as the mentor of the infamous Baron Zoria, founder of the Circle of Thorns. *'''Sam the Bartender gets his name from Sam Malone from the show Cheers *'Scheherazade' signs can be seen in several zones of Paragon City. There is no clue about the meaning of those signs as of today. *'Serafina' is said to be a Djinn. *'Technician Naylor' (aka Portal Technician Grant Naylor), Grant Naylor is the "name" of the author of the BBC's Red Dwarf series. In actuallity, its the last names of the two writers combined as if it was one person. - Wikipeidia's entry on Red Dwarf Police Band Detectives * Detective Basinns - Miami Vice, Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs * Detective Becktrees - Dragnet, Pep Streebeck * Detective Croquette - Miami Vice, James "Sonny" Crockett * Detective Davids - Starsky & Hutch, David Starsky * Detective Fish - Barney Miller, Det Phillip Fish * Detective Frasenbacker - Due South, Mountie Benton Fraser and his wolf, Dieffenbaker * Detective Freitag - Dragnet, Freitag means Friday in German -> Joe Friday * Detective Hutchinson - Starsky & Hutch, Ken 'Hutch' Hutchinson * Detective Junkers - possibly Blade Runner, Rick Deckard * Detective Kowaccio - Due South, Ray Vecchio & Stanley Raymond Kowalski * Detective Martins - Lethal Weapon, Martin Riggs * Detective McLord - Hawaii Five-O, Steve McGarrett played by Jack Lord * Detective Miller - Barney Miller, Capt. Barney Miller * Detective Murwell - Robocop, Alex J. Murphy * Detective Rogers - Lethal Weapon, Roger Murtaugh * Detective Selnum - Magnum, P.I., Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV played by Tom Selleck * Detective Sluggitt - Bullitt Lt. Frank Bullitt played by Steve McQueen * Detective Westbrush - Dirty Harry, Eastwood -> Westbrush New Faultline * Penelope Yin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Pitstop Penelope Pitstop of the Wacky Races And a number of Lost bosses encountered on her story arc (all characters from Wacky Races): * Slag of Skyway - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slag_Brothers #1, The Boulder Mobile with the Slag Brothers, Rock and Gravel * Gruesome of Galaxy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gruesome_Twosome #2, The Creepy Coupe with the Gruesome Twosome, Big and Little * Ruffcut of Perez - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_Ruffcut_and_Sawtooth #10, The Buzzwagon with Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth * Blast of Hollows - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacky_Races #6, The Army Surplus Special with Sgt. Blast and Pvt. Meekly * Ant of Atlas - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacky_Races #7, The Bulletproof Bomb with the Anthill Gang * Blubber of Steel - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_and_Blubber_Bear #8, The Arkansas Chugalug with Luke and Blubber Bear * Muxley - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muttley #00 Dick Dastardly and Muttley In Doc Delilah's storyline you fight: * Dr. Vezzini - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_%28film%29 Vizzini, the Sicilian * Dr. Humperdink - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Humperdinck Prince Humperdink Both from The Princess Bride. Someone will need to watch the arc closely to see if either Fezzik or Inigo Montoya also pop up in the arc. :) Enemy Groups *'Arachnoids': **'Widdershins': Widdershins means anticlockwise which was considered unlucky to travel in that direction. *'Arachnos': Is no surprise that many of Arachnos' troops take its names from different kinds of spiders: **'Wolf Spiders': Wolf Spider. **'Crab Spiders': Crab Spider. **'Blood and Night Widows': Black Widow Spider. **'Tarantulas': Tarantula Spider. **'Mu Mystics' are, of course, related to the mythical nation of Mu, which seems to be based on the real life legend of Mu. **'Lord Recluse' himself is related to the deadly Brown Recluse Spider. **'Ghost Widow' may be referred to the Black Widow Spider as well. **'Scirocco' and Ice Mistral take their names from different kinds of wind instead: Sirocco and Mistral. **'Captain Mako' and Barracuda take their names from deadly sea predators: Mako and Barracuda. *'Banished Pantheon': several kinds of enemies of this villain group have its own real life history: **'Animated corpses' can be compared to zombies. **'Shaman **'Totem' **'Adamastor''' Adamastor *'Clockwork': some of the soldiers of this group are named after XIX century computer engineers: **'Babbage' is named after Charles Babbage. **'Tesla' soldiers are named after Nikola Tesla. **Besides, some of the bosses you can find during the Synapse Task Force are named after famous cannons: ***'Bertha', from the WWI german cannon of the same name. ***'Long Tom', after the M59 Long Tom gun. *'Circle of Thorns': **'Behemoth' can be referred to a Biblical demon. **'Succubus' are female demons from the medieval legends. **'Baphomet' is a demon of uncertain origins, and apparently connected to the Knights Templar. **'Caleb' **'Lilitu' comes from the Mesopotamian legends. Notice the legend about her having to kill her children. *'Coralax': During the story arc "Calystix the Shaper", a history of the cult is mentioned. One of the chapters matches perfectly with the events related in The Shadow over Innsmouth, from Howards Phillips Lovecraft. Perhaps the whole group is based on the Deep Ones. *'Fir Bolg' come from the mythical Ireland myths. *The Freedom Phalanx takes its name of the ancient military formation of the same name. Many of the names of the Phalanx's heros are common sustantives: **'Statesman' **'Positron' **'Manticore' **'Synapse' **'Citadel' *'Gold Brickers' **'King Midas', the leader of the Gold Brickers, takes his name from King Midas in Greek Mythology who turned everything that he touched into gold. *'Longbow': the heroic militia whose name comes from the reach of its influence, seems to be named after the bow of the same name, also renowned for its reach: The English Longbow **'Ballistas', the Longbow heaviest hitters, are named after a siege machine which is, basically, a powerful crossbow. *'Luddites': This group actually existed during the XIX century: **'Luddites': Luddites *'Nemesis': Many of the Nemesis' troops have (or had) a real life counterpart. All of them are (or were at one time) military units from the XVIII and XIX centuries: **'Armiger': Armiger. **'Carabinier': Carabinier. **'Curasseur': Curassier. **'Chasseur': Chasseur. **'Dragoon': Dragoon **'Fusilier': Fusilier. **'Grenadier': Grenadier. **'Hussar': Hussar. **'Lancer': Lancer. **'Tirailleur': Tirailleur. **'Jaeger': Jaeger. **The very name Nemesis has a meaning as well: Nemesis *'Praetorians' seem to take their name from the Roman guard corps of the same name which was tasked with the protection of the Emperor. It's a fitting name for this group: notice the table of relations between the Emperor and his guards here. *'Red Caps' are a malevolent kind of goblin in the British myths. **'Jack in Irons' comes from the British myths. *'Snakes': **'Stheno' was one of the immortal Gorgons and sister of the well known Medusa in Greek mythology. *'Spetsnaz', found in City of Villains, are a real life Russian military unit. *'The Cabal': **'Maven' **'Sidhe' is referred to a kind of ghost of the irish mythology. **'Sprite' *'The Family' syndicate of crime uses many titles also used in real life: **'Button Man': see also made man **'Capo': Capo. **'Underboss': Underboss. **'Consigliere': Consigliere. *'Trolls:' **'Caliban' - The name of Julius Caesar's sword, also a character in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest". Wikipedia's page on Caliban. **'Grendel', the former leader of the Trolls, is related to the being of the same name in the poem Beowulf. *'Tuatha de Dannan' come from the Irish myths *'Unseelie Court' are part of the fairy myths from the British Isles. The Unseelie Court means "Unholy Court". http://www.pantheon.org/articles/u/unseelie_court.html *'Warriors' seem to be based on the street gang of the same name of the film The Warriors. *'Wyvern' takes its name from the mythological being of the same name. Talons, fangs and stings are parts of that being. Weapons and Equipment Many of the weapons found in the hands of the City of Heroes/City of Villains groups and characters are real: * Melee Weapons **'Handclaws' are used by groups such as the Tsoo Bronze Leopard school, the street gang of the Praetorian Bobcat and even the Arachnos Blood Widows. **'Daggers' are used mostly by mystical groups. **'Sai' is a rare weapon which can be found in both Tsoo and Praetorian ninjas groups. **'Kama' is another of the weapons also almost exclusively used by the Tsoo. **'Machete' is the standard hand to hand weapon of the mercenaries Sky Raiders, also used by some Luddites. **'Tomahawks' are found in the hands of the undead soldiers of the Banished Pantheon. **'Broadswords' are found in the hands of the Warriors, Heroes, Luddites... **'Scimitar' sword is used by the Circle of Thorns and the Snakes. **'Katanas' are a common sight among the Tsoo. Out of them, only groups like the Knives of Artemis or Chimera's ninjas use them. **'Bayonet' is still in use as the standard hand to hand combat weapon for the troop of the Nemesis Army. **'Shillelagh' are used by some Luddites. **'Taser' is available to both players and the Malta Group. * Ranged weapons **'Molotov cocktails' are used during riots caused by groups such as the Scrapyarders of Sharkhead Isle. They are favored by the arsonist Hellions as well. **'Caltrops' are not a "true" ranged weapon but can be thrown a short distance. Used by Knives of Artemis and Praetorian ninjas. **'Shuriken' is an oriental weapon which can be uncommonly found in game. Only stealthy groups such as the Knives of Artemis or those with an oriental background like the Tsoo use this weapon. **'Darts' are used often by the same groups which use shurikens. Rather than hurt the darts, instead, tend to poison or sleep the target. **'Long bow' is the only kind of bow currently in game. Found in the hands of foes with a stealthy nature or medieval/mythic background, or even in the hands of street gangs with old ages tastes such as The Warriors. Also, bows are the signature weapon of the group Wyvern, but I'm not sure about the kind of bows this group use. **'Crosssbow' can be found often in the hands of the same groups which use long bows, and for the same reasons. * Firearms **'Revolvers' can be found extensively very early in game in the hands of many criminal groups. This is the most basic firearm. The game uses a simple model for this weapon, so it's impossible to determine the model the devs used, or even if they used one. In the high level game only the Malta Group Gunslingers seem to use a version of this weapon. **'Desert Eagle' is a fearsome high caliber pistol often found in game as Heavy Pistol. Used by street gangs, security forces public and private, and even by Longbow. **'Shotguns' can be found commonly in the hands of high rank members of street gangs or low level paramilitary. This is a potent, destructive weapon designed for close combat range, do not confuse it with a rifle. **'Uzi Submachinegun' is often found in the hands of many street gangs in Paragon City filling the role of Submachinegun. Paragon Police Detectives and private Security forces make use of it as well. **'Thompson submachinegun' this 30s' classical is found in the hands of the Family thugs exclusively. Often shown with the bulky and unpractical drum magazine. **'Muskets' are another of those old-fashioned weapons the corpses of the Banished Pantheon use exclusively. Anyways the weapon more than a musket looks like a pistol. **'MP5 Submachinegun' often fills the role of Advanced Submachinegun in game. Used by paramilitary forces, mercenaries and well-funded security forces. **'Lee-Enfield Rifles' are used by the poor souls the Banished Pantheon uses as reanimated corpses. Despite the name, the model looks much more like an Enfield rifle. **'M16 Assault Rifle' is the rifle found in game fulling the role of Assault Rifle. It is always presented with what appears to be an grenade launcher below the barrel. Despite of this, many enemies don't use any kind of grenades and fire the rifle only. Found in the hands of high level members of street gangs, private security forces and the Paragon SWAT among others. **'SCAR assault rifle' is a last generation assault rifle which can be found exclusively in the hands of the Paragon Police Ghosts. **'Gatling Gun' A miniaturized version of this weapon is used by the Nemesis Support Troops, in a strange weapon which combines both a flamethrower and a Gatling gun. *'Equipment' **'Night vision googles' are used by hi-tech groups such as the Malta Group and the Knives of Artemis. **'Pickelhaube' is the name of the famous German spiked helmet still in use by the Nemesis Army. **The helicopters used by Longbow to go and come from disputed (PvP) zones seem to be russian Mil-Mi 8. Besides, during one of the missions from Peter Themari in City of Villains your character will be sent to Skyway City to save Olivia Darque. There you can see the Blood Bay helicopter: For some reason, the model is not a Mil-Mi 8, but a fearsome Mil-Mi 24. Other items and Artifacts *Some members of the Skulls will drop Crystal Skulls as Salvage. More about Crystal Skulls. *'Orichalcum' can be found as Salvage in the hands of the Circle of Thorns. *The Sforza Horse, which you can find in a mission against the Family, could be seen in the film Hudson Hawk. *An Ushabti can be found in the hands of the Hellions during a low level mission. *The Jewel of Enki can be found in the hands of Hellions. *The Bands of Shu seem to be currently in the hands of the Malta Group. *A mission against the Warriors will make you encounter The Platonic Solids, which exist in real life. *'Protonium' will drop off severel villain groups as Salvage. *'Hand of Omega' is an item from the longest running Sci Fi show in the world, Dr. Who, and show's up in the police scanner missions. Category:In-jokes